About Tom Ellis

Tom Ellis is a professional writer with nearly 40 years of experience. Ellis began his writing career as a reporter for the Springfield Daily News in Springfield, Mo. He also was city editor of the Scottsdale Daily Progress in Scottsdale, Ariz., and news editor of Today Newspapers, a chain of weekly papers that covered metropolitan Phoenix. He began freelancing in 1997. Ellis is a graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo.

In 1912, when it became the nation’s 48th state, Arizona was a challenging place to live. It was sparsely populated with small communities scattered hither and yon. Travel between towns was grueling. The lower desert was unbearably hot in the summer, and water was scarce and unreliable. Arizona would have had a dim future if… Read More →

President Barack Obama has signed a bill that aims to increase small business lending. But it’s not exactly popular among Arizona’s small companies and community banks. They question whether a multibillion-dollar loan fund created by the legislation will achieve its goal. The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 will establish a $30 billion… Read More →

Ready to heave a sigh of relief over Arizona’s economy? Go ahead — but don’t get carried away. Some observers expect the second half of this year will bring positive signs that the economy is recovering, turning the dial toward even stronger growth in 2011 and 2012. Others aren’t so sure the state’s recession is… Read More →

Facility managers are busy people. They’re constantly on the go. But they’re not so harried that they don’t have time to help others. IFMA’s Greater Phoenix Chapter has a history of working with charitable organizations to make life better for those in need. It also conducts projects that directly reach out to people and help… Read More →

Roy Vallee Chairman of the Board and CEO Avnet “..we are seeing a bounce-back in IT spending.” –Roy Vallee, Avnet Although it believes its performance was pretty good under the circumstances, Phoenix-based Avnet Inc. chalks up 2009 as a harsh year. Now, Avnet is focused on an improving economy and the business it will bring.… Read More →

Dr. Jeffrey M. Trent President and Research Director TGen Since it was founded in 2002, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has been helping people with neurological disorders and such diseases as cancer and diabetes through business spin-offs and commercialization of its research. Today, TGen’s president and scientific director, Dr. Jeffrey M. Trent, believes this… Read More →

John Chadwick President, Southwest Area Pulte Homes John Chadwick knows there have been better days in Arizona’s home-construction industry. Last year was a challenging time for homebuilders and he believes this year will test their mettle, as well. But he’s convinced that builders with sufficient resources will find opportunities as the state’s residential real estate… Read More →

Don’t dust off that party hat just yet, but there are early signs that the worst recession in the Valley’s history is easing its stranglehold on the economy. To be sure, as fall approaches and the recession’s two-year mark looms in December, Phoenix residents and businesses still struggle with plenty of economic problems. But economists… Read More →

Arizona has 52 Nasdaq-listed companies and the performance of those with the most capitalization during this economic downturn has been fairly good. In early June, Stephen Taddie, managing member of Stellar Capital Management in Phoenix, reviewed the top 10 Arizona Nasdaq companies using Thomson Analytics as his data source. Those companies comprise nearly all the… Read More →

Tattoo Manufacturing Inc., in Tucson is a well-kept secret of success. This company with 95 employees bills itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of temporary tattoos. Indeed, it produces 6 million tattoos a day and has captured more than 90 percent of the temporary-tattoo market in the U.S. Joyce Sinclair founded the company in 1985,… Read More →

The banking industry has plenty of troubles, but in Arizona, the least of its problems is the aftermath of recent mergers. Bankers and industry observers say the state’s financial-services landscape hasn’t significantly changed because of the consolidations. Other than the usual branch closings and potential employee layoffs, they don’t see a big shakeup looming. One… Read More →

Economists are the uncomfortable bearers of bad news. In recent weeks, they have been unhappily explaining that these are dark days indeed for Arizona’s business community. But don’t tell that to businesspeople who have uplifting stories to tell amid the downdraft of Arizona’s recession. While it’s true that Arizona’s economy is out for the count,… Read More →

While most of Arizona’s state-chartered banks were mulling over their options for federal assistance late last year, Uncle Sam was injecting billions of dollars of new capital into national banking companies with Arizona subsidiaries. The question is whether any of that money from the Department of the Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)… Read More →

About 10 years after its Phoenix headquarters opened in 1979, Opus West came up against a major recession in the Valley. It survived that test and is weathering today’s economic downturn with the same tactics. A division of the Minneapolis-based Opus Group real estate development company, Opus West is going head-to-head with Arizona’s moribund economy… Read More →

Bank failures are in the headlines and that has raised questions for Arizona consumers. As a result, many of the state’s banks have drawn up their own plans of action to keep customers informed and confident. “In a period of financial distress and instability, the more banks do to indicate the strength of their portfolios… Read More →